facilitate better forecasts amongst all agencies and of course better policy. i would like to thank all the panel is that we have with us today. >> thank you for on a cut. thank you everybody. thank you to all of the great speakers. [applause] ..

posted by the university of chicago institute of politics, this is an hour and 15 minutes. [applause] >> thank you on very much for being here. i've been in this business a long time, at the century. there are occasions in american life on one issue kind of galvanizes the country and it seems to me that as we begin this year, the, violence and their place in american lives and suddenly electrified the country. the university of chicago and lead institution on the main street of a small town i grew up in america, south dakota and montana, the big cities is not to chicago, but los angeles and houston and dallas and other places. we are in a kind of dark way a unique society in terms of

violent and especially the place of guns. i want you to know something about me. i've grown up with guns. i've have a first gun when i was 10 years old. it was an extraordinarily important ritual for me for my father to give me my first in the family for a long, long time. hunting was a very important passage for me and it continues to this day. i still have a collection of guns at their ranch in montana, where rahm has been. i'm not a big hunter, but i guns that could be engaged in that. i'm primarily a shotgun or, a bird hunter. as a shotgun or come you eat what you kill when you find them, shoot them. i've been in the midst is culture for a long, long time and i find myself in a journalistic role as a kind of

intersection in america because they know the kinds of weapons were talking about and i also know the consequences of pulling that trigger but what happens when you do. moreover, when is that the great plains is a journalist, i immediately went to the urban areas and los angeles and spent a lot of time in washington d.c. in the course of my career, i've been utterly vexed by her inability of the civil society. the nation takes such great pride in the rule of law to have someone come to grips with the place of guns and violence. before we begin this discussioncomes out to you on personal anecdote. three days before the sandy hook shooting, as in denver colorado on personal business and i was driving to the denver suburbs and i passed into oruro, colorado and saw the sign that

to myself, as journalists often do, my god, this just disappeared from our landscape. it happened not that long ago and a young man now appears to be utterly deranged, went to the theater and began shooting people with an assault weapon. and it went away. it is not part of a presidential debate, not part of the daily journalistic diet. so that wednesday night, i e-mailed the reduced their of the "meet the press" show coming up on that sunday in which they would be talking about big ideas that needs to be thinking about. and i said you should put shooting at the top of the list. we've been through oruro, the sikh temple, the shopping mall. think about this. this is before we got to sandy hook in it.

we had a time of absolute carnage in america to see nothing going on in chicago in most urban areas around america. a hundred six homicides in chicago alone. so we have a lot of issues as we dive now into the 21st century. but it seems to me we have no more issues and to decide who we honor and what kinds of cultures would like to pass on to our children in the use of weapons, in the place of violence and their ability to do with this in some kind of a rational fashion. can't think of a better group of people to talk about all that tonight, so i'm very grateful to have all of you here today and it's important me to make the trip from new york to chicago when i had to go back because i feel so strongly about it.

let me begin with our two political figures here. a really tipping point? do think newton change things? >> yes. here's why. yes, you are at a tipping point. there's no doubt with a better discussion in greater concentration. when i was a point person for president clinton and passing the brady bill and the late part of november 93 and the assault weapons ban in the house in the spring of 94, it was those to those very focused on criminal acts nice. president clinton's legislation post-columbine did not pass. so the notion that everybody should rely on the energy and force of newton, i would caution not to do that. it's galvanized to have a conversation internally and have

a serious conversation, but for the assault weapons ban, were done with columbine would have been in virginia. i do believe in the last four years, the last eight years of politics, what happened there has made all of us have a discussion and appropriate politics to be focused for the president to introduce this legislation or package undecided what is going to do by executive order. but we are at a tipping point is postponed, delayed or for whatever reason hasn't happened. my small plaintiff caution anything but the last time i had success, goes back in 93 and 94. those were pretty columbine. his entire package fell flat. >> congressman, you had a reading from the nra. you voted for reducing the waiting time for weapons from

reduced to one day. do you think we are at a tipping point, but there'll be some kind of a seismic change? >> since the topic of politics, i would add a lot of people lately accredit 1993 crime bill for the reason republicans took a majority for the first time in 40 years and so it really has a lot to do with the politics. i'm very grateful to be at the university of chicago. only in chicago could use something called the nonpartisan and bipartisan center for apologies but david axelrod and rahm emanuel. >> is a whole different story. >> we have to come back with the bipartisan issue. >> and it's sure if he goes so far. the conversation has changed and i will tell you, this goes to a

no care whether it's gotten discussion, fiscal discussion or anything else, at this moment in time you have republicans than i happen to be one of them with the ira they would be more than happy to sit down and begin to have a conversation about guns. it has to be there a conversation he can be one of the situations whether some people in the country they don't want anybody to have any kind of gun, said it can't be an overreach and what we get in these political settings sometimes is one party or the other fields that both the haircut that guy we want them and so did everything i want. this isn't an everything you want situation. if you think about the shooting, all but one were committed by a disturbed white male and were not talking about beginning a disturbed white men. so it has to be the right conversation that makes a

difference and make sure you're reduced to silence. >> let me ask the academy representatives. i'm not using this from the ivory tower. as you look at the place of our society in the 21st century and champions as we see ourselves as if ronald reagan likes to see a city shining on the, let's befuddled most of all look at the place of gun violence of the second amendment? >> one of the most interesting things for me to see what the discussion is the idea that comes up over and over again about futility, efforts to regulate guns. one statistic is most people, almost everybody knows about guns in america is that we have

300 million people in 300 guns and that leaves lots of people to throw up their hands and think anything we do in the reagan victory site is futile. i'm actually not that pessimistic myself i hope this is one of the themes that comes up in the public discussion is to move forward for two reasons. one thing important to keep in mind if they are very concentrated and very sedentary. 10% of all people in the united states on about 80% of the guns. they're mostly middle-class, middle-age people in rural areas and hold onto their guns for a long time. on the other hand, most of the people engaging crying our teens and young adults in most criminal careers are short. one of things that means if there's a new generation of young people trying to solve the problem fresh and getting their hands on guns and one way you

could take about the challenge here, the situation here is if you think about the united states being like a giant bathtub with 300 million guns, but nothing to worry about the entire town. just a few million guns changing hands every year and trying to divert them away from the high risk. the other thing i like to mention that the conversation right now is a bunch of stuff going on the federal level and a bunch of states to innovate on their own. one of the things important to keep in mind the slow side from hawaii, no state is an island. every state is doing on the gun regulations that is relevant in other states as well. the city of chicago, state of illinois have the more restrictive gun laws in the country. i see another signature see.

i drive every thanksgiving. nobody stops me as they go. the coarseness of the state orders means there's reasons to think the national regulation is going to be even more meaningful than what happens at the state and local level, so it does seem like a big moment in this discussion right now. >> i want to underscore one point to that. let each eyster new jersey, you're going to go through indiana. 50% of the guns we pick up come from outside the state of illinois. to underscore that point, 250s that a little earlier is you can have a discussion on a set of policies, but were going to be his good for setting up national legislation. to go further, but the national discussion among other

priorities you can get bipartisanship on it. in the background was set up, 40% of the guns treated or bot are not covered in the background five day waiting period. that's not a loophole. that's an exception has to be dealt with to create a national for this comprehend is that what happens doesn't flood the city of chicago, cook county. >> it needs to be a national fixed and there has to better preemption because the patchwork of states or cities acted by themselves -- i went to the university of michigan because the drinking age is 18 and it was one in ohio. >> that explains a lot now. [laughter] and i was still a republican.

>> so you can't have a hodgepodge patchwork. >> what are the chances some of the state laws will withstand the federal test and the judiciary, for example, new york has just passed and stringent laws in which, for example, mental health workers are required to report to the authorities they are suspicious of someone who may be a danger to society and they crack down the place of assault weapons are not inadequate in-service state-of-the-art. it is after all a second amendment of the federal constitution to stand the kind of test a lot of people make challenges. >> steve. >> is pretty hurt to know what will stand up to the supreme court and what won't. we just have a ruling from the seventh circuit court of appeals in chicago at the element cannot conceal to carry some constitutional under the supreme court's second amendment.

the federal appeals court in new york took exactly the opposite view. if you go back and read the supreme court decisions, they suggest there's a fair amount of latitude for the democratic government to regulate guns, but they also put a definite boundary on how far those can go. an outright ban on handguns like in chicago before, like washington d.c. hackers to fraud. that is a second amendment right goes too far to extend the right of self-defense that the supreme court found to emulate the home is another question entirely. i think ultimately probably what happens in congress is not going

to be greatly affect getting greatly constrained by what the supreme court is going to allow. the court on things like regulation of a particular type of guns, waiting periods, background checks and things like that will probably be willing to allow that sort of thing. >> i watch you all to know that it just not been sending to my wife while she's away. those of you getting here in time, i know this is a big appointment every day. you may not have seen nightly news tonight, the chuck todd had a report and i thought it would share that with you and then get with you, congressman. universal background check will push hard for that. prohibition of high-capacity ammunition magazines with anything above 10 rounds. 30 round magazines used to do.

some type of assault weapons ban, antitrafficking legislation to impose civil penalties, one unannounced actions, but will choose prosecuting people who feel background checks. reinvigorating federal research of crimes. also, recommendations will include more work on security, although not increasing funding and entertainment video games, although the stories is not what that means spirit or the situation in a minute. what do you think the chances of a racing here is an outline getting through the body you just left, congressman? >> is really why he was talking about overreach. then they talk about the democrats because harry reid talked about the assault by big

dan and getting it to the united states senate controlled by the democratic party. it ain't going to happen. so if you look at the red state senators up for reelection alabaster down south, that's what i'm talking about in terms of overreach. if this is something we such close the loophole, catch 40% escaping and i'm guns if they mentally disturbed had reasonable restrictions. the problem in the heller case is you couldn't have a can bus registered, but they would much reregister. that is in effect that you can't do it and that tesco to fire. so if it's common sense, quite frankly i don't know why somebody needs 10 bullets.

it doesn't seem like some magic number to me. to the gunowners, that sounds like something somebody made up. the president's executive orders can be accepted by the republican party. if they did close down 90 people buying guns. you think this through. >> small items on ticket items. >> yes. in the brady bill of 93, about effectively. for background check. the assault weapons ban was all about criminals and so, my views which you can do by executive order, take care of it. executive order is not as good as legislation, but if you can do it, do it and make this focus on both the criminal access.

also marshaled public opinion and to get away or start the center of gravity to get the politics that get disenchanted literally. i do think, not to argue, but it will. there's something magical about 10. mike thompson into the california was late in the democratic effort in the house. federal legislation today as it relates to shotguns that come within three at any one time. wormer project is of ducks that we are kids. see federal legislation that covers alabama, mississippi, so tavistock magical enough, we can go to three. the clip does change the type of gun.

it dramatically change that. it's a good comprehensive background checks for criminal dignity would be essential to anything on the loophole. obviously filler pieces you can do. usually people think the executive order is that the president would sign. direct the attorney general as a measure of each u.s. attorney. we at the u.s. attorney position in chicago. it's opened up. you compare to others, like the other one. they should be measured and have to report it within the executive authority they do get prosecuted. i put the prosecution to a standard as part of the executive authority of a president can do. >> i want to share with the audience that kind of passion and i'm sure many of you are

aware of it. let me just do something -- how many of you have ever fired a gun? more than i would've expected. how many of you own a gun? fewer obviously. how many of you feel strongly about my right to own a gun without conditions? a few. >> let me share stand krystal, who was a special forces officer. the man whose lost his job, mostly made by his staff when he was running the war in afghanistan, second generation military man. best of breed when it comes to military figure. >> here's what he said on

television last week. i spent a career carrying an m-16 for m4 carbine. thursday 223 caliber round. not that big, they do a, this is how they talk in the gun business. about 3000 feet per second. but it's a human body, the effects are devastating. it is designed for that is not the soldiers out. i personally don't think there's any need for that weaponry on the street and particularly when the schools of america. we've got to take a serious look. i understand the desire to have what they want, but got to protect her children, police, population. serious action is necessary. sometimes we talk about limited actions. i just don't think that's enough. then in the modern media culture in which we live for a lot of responses, including this one,

always anonymously. have they to differ the entire 15 should be possessed by the military. order from governor sued tyrannically find ourselves in this second civil war, to be seeing the chance with revolvers and perhaps compound bows. general kristol seems to forget her country was an insurrection against each radical government? heaven forbid if we're forced to repeat history in that regard we must have the resources to be and another's is, it is the constitution. i trace the men who wrote it a great tune within you. what is the battlefield becomes your backyard? >> if i could jump in, the stuff you just read captures some of the incoherence of this debate because were both opponents of

assault weapons and makers of assault weapons, and use that term in quotes because it's not a technical term, is to greatly exaggerate how different they are from other guns and they're actually not. what distinguishes assault weapons as it is defined in 1894 law is not how fast he can fire. it's not how lethal the ammunition is. it's not accurate. it's mostly cosmetic, like whether it has a bayonet, whether it has a pistol grip. you look at these things. they look like military weapons. if you talk about how they function, they are no different from ordinary hunting rifles. their semi automatic, often referred to as automatic weapons. the huge difference between what the military has said that

civilians can buy. they look like with the army has, but doesn't do with those guns do and that's what's frustrating because you spend time with the misconceptions that have pots of assault weapons as most people on the other side seem very attached. >> to hang out with people. none of us had 30 round magazines. for example, the kinds of assault weapons. by the way, they can be constructed in a hundred different ways that stay within the limits of the law. >> i know people who live they are 15th for target shooting. the number of people who get killed with assault weapons compared to the murders is very

small. are far more likely to be killed by somebody with a knife and some of assault weapon. 80% of the gun homicides are committed with handguns are not affected by the assault. >> the rest of the carnage has been with assault weapons. >> that's obviously the factual matter true. the question is if you take those guns away, are you depriving people who want to do that amount of damage from weaponry that's equally effective for their purposes and the answer is you're not. plenty of guns available under the assault weapons ban that would be available under the proposed one would be equally or more distraught than the weapons they used must not shootings.

>> is a couple people who want to comment on this. let me ask you, how old are you? >> told him i my? and 58. >> i have older, but more than i like to acknowledge fadeaway. in the course of my lifetime and his gunowners and people are aware of what's going on with weaponry in america, would you also acknowledge there has been this introduction of those kinds of weapons in a way we didn't have before and didn't really need to have them before? >> 58 question with a lot easier. there are lots of things we didn't have when you and i were young many decades ago. >> when they were young. different icons and wanted to use them as part of her life and

culture and all those other thing, they satisfy their need for them. however you describe an assault weapon in the platform, which can be modified in different ways these days has taken over, as you know, then it is used, has it not? >> they are selling a lot of them right now. >> more everyday. >> 99.5% will never be used for anything but hunting, target shooting, home protection kept in place in case of a home invasion. very, very few ever used for criminal purposes. >> i just want to say the whole business about people use today is mitt romney lost the election with the whole horse and bayonet. i wish would stay away from that

because the president said were not using bayonets anymore. so it's a different weaponry, but the other thing missing here i think when i talk about overreach, the e-mail you read in general kristol's observation is people say, why do you need an assault weapon? nobody needs an assault weapon, but that's not the issue. by somebody in this country need to have a trial by jury? by somebody who's robbed a bank need to have the fourth amendment having a search warrant before you issue? nobody needs those things. the issue as they were enshrined in the constitution. so you have to make sure you work with what the supreme court has said. the right to bear arms is an individual right. the first of all affect the value can you can have reasonable restrictions, so the path forward for responsible

legislators is to find out what the reasonable restrictions are that save lives. i think the taking of when human life is a horrible thing by a crazy person and i don't think you have to say this is bad because there's three people at october 10 people. anybody he uses a gun. >> let me ask you a question because the the reporter who addicted is to frame this as a response to java christo who's lived his life with those kinds of weapons. the responses we need those weapons. >> anonymously by ted kaczynski in prison with an e-mail. that anonymous writer, by the way you should have blogs later added because anonymous business makes people bolder and say things. >> by difference would be enough to get this much is a minority opinion as you think it is.

b. matches to do it with the site, first and foremost, whether the federal-mogul you need a comprehensive background check. whether it's a handgun, and is the, ak-47, discard the pieces. i want a comprehensive background check because i don't want any criminal access to those guns or whatever take a. that's it is a federal piece of legislation that what the court said it past the political test opinion about a bipartisan majority? that would fundamentally tighten up a lot of loose ends that everyone was an officer regardless of rural or urban would want today. number two, steve, you are correct in the attributes, but

that's easy to find this an assault but there are semi automatic, with a mission for the battlefield with state alterations is now on the streets in any urban area in last week good police work out an assault weapon the street. good police work and doesn't belong here. when you change the assault magazine, you change the capacity. to go back to 94 was also a passing the legislation. written exemption because it is required to get the bill done as it relates to imports. my view is what are we doing to stop terminal access, whether it, to quote the congressman, crazy white guy alienated or here in the streets in the city of chicago or any other urban

areas. it's criminal access and type of guns we see in the constitution this court and if necessary the hospital. we have a lot of loopholes in people getting access to guns that shouldn't have been here. repeated in responsible ways for those who want to go hunting but we do to protect our residents can also do and how prolonged worsening. >> if i can like to have it on because i think it's just a component and we've got a home of their issue we have to deal with. that is how we respond to that and how we are alert to. also, intercultural violence in videogames what young people have access to? everyone at the shooters has shown up in combat gear very

much eczema nisi on video. you have any feelings about the impact of that, if you will, cultural violence. >> you've seen an expansion in the use of videogames more violent, more military. you had a sharp decline nationally. when i was a kid, there is talk about movies or two for, driving people crazy. i don't think you could find any connection over time between what the media and how people behave. the same media for supposedly makes american silent doesn't have the effect on people in japan or europe. they watch the same movies, play the same video games. if you have a culture basically not violent, it's not going to

make it out. a culture is a good deal more violence is also not going to make a difference because that's not the real problem. but so are the impulses coming from. >> is going to pick up on violence in media and the mental health point. there's some suggestive evidence that exposure to violent media increases aggression as they can measure in a lab setting without getting in trouble with the review board. hard to know exactly what that means for violent behavior on the outside, but the other thing, which complicates a little bit is that you can send movies have a cataract in effect to incapacitate people. when peloponnese come out, crime rates tend to go down because everybody's bidding high risk

time people about the games games come out, the incapacitation seems to outweigh. >> we need to have one every day. >> what we don't know is if it makes senator whether people will spend less time. i just think it's a little complicated on the pilot site. >> in the come bawling kind case was impact on those two young shooters and what drove them turned out that one of them was my psychopathic people realized at the time and he drew the other shooter to become a part of what turned out to be a sicko. somehow the ratio is taking the component parts of violence in the media, a country that had a lot of violent within its borders in the winning of the west and what goes on in urban

areas. the availability of guns in the kind of celebrations in times of what happens with people getting eliminated. are we unique in the world and our acceptance of that cultural violence and the acceptance in our midst in the last 25, 30 years in a variety of places. , i don't know where rahm was at the time. i remember being insensitive to when mondale was nominated as a presidential candidate in san diego, these have become routine to a greater degree than anywhere else in the western world. >> one of the things useful to keep in mind is the united states is not unusually violent

country. when you look at the united states compared to the united kingdom, we do not have what were assault, more robberies in places like the united kingdom. the place we we were differences with respect to our homicide rate. almost all the difference in the homicide rates between the united states and kingdom is driven by gun homicide. i'm not very enthusiastic about the evil daughter watch videogames. the geneva. a good piece really is to me the most important thing that makes this so different from industrialized countries. >> point that would make this a safe big difference between homicide here and abroad that she had seen other prime categories. there's also variation among the 50 states seem to bear no relation at all to gun laws in

vermont has probably the loosest gun laws in the country. illinois has relatively strict gun laws in the hyper iterate. >> distinguish the two things they are. it is to the state and local, stood not correlate strongly with gun crime or homicide rates overall. the poorest mississippian skateboarders research shows in places but there's markdowns in the higher homicide rate. >> the collation is, do people get guns in response to fears about higher homicide rates typically buy guns until my people? as they understand the social science research, it's never been definitively established. we have particularly in the

south, a general sense people are responsible for their own self protection they need weaponry and also a higher prevalence rate in the south. it's hard to distinguish what causes that situation. >> we can't isolate. it's the first time for the research to violent crime goes down. minicity video. i've never heard that. to isolate this is wrong. one thing is pretty 94 crime bill community thirty-year crinkling up late james wilson a sociologist at bay are going to have to get used to this.

that policy begins to decline in crime this was violence have a comprehensive approach that more police on the street doing community policing from getting guns off the street the assault weapons ban. it has a three strikes you're out, what is rated at that point, the basically considered afterschool program is the midnight basketball. but it had a comprehensive approach for all types of crimes federal crimes. when we talk about transcendentalists in this dealing with violence overall, culture plays a role, i believe. i'm a little taken back to the data. there's a value system, no doubt it'll set of component, not just entertainment, although that's not exempt.

parents income the value space from afterschool programs give kids a positive reinforcement. so if you think of this in a comprehensive fashion and take a look each aspect. gutless by themselves, after the peasant introduces legislation, either homicides are a problem is not going to happen. it is a necessary component in our society? absolutely, but everything else has to come into place, which is i don't know what to do a school part in the biggest thing to help, afterschool programs. doing a positive reinforcement coming to become an alternative to what happens on the street corner. whatever the come on, hostetter can complement and that's the biggest and the components in a society. >> and 94, i know this because

my son was involved with working with janet reno and bill. she had as a prosecutor a concert to see schools, healthy communities in which is then holistic approach to shoot at the community votes, not police enforcement basis, but working with the community and trying to develop some kind of overarching approach to the community. before questions from the audience, let me ask each of you to give me a summary going on from here, from this day forward. two years from now, if you had to design pho reaction to what we've been through in the last year, what you see this just as an anomaly or something that's going to require us to be much more correct to across the proper type about access to weapons and kinds of weapons, culture and place of the law or

will it be no different? >> were going to stay with me. you know, i hope this is a moment to do a variety of things as the mayor said jess to combat this problem. two things i hope could come out of this. i'm with the mayor that i liked the idea of exemption. closing the back check exemption seems huge. in terms of making progress would be like winning the super bowl in the world series in the final scotland. >> what about private gun sales? >> is the ballgame, to extend background checks. the other thing that i myself think it's a huge priority to pick it add one more thing is

increase federal support for law enforcement. this is a hugely important and underappreciated but how to reduce gun violence. i think in the near term, some of the biggest impact in moving the needle and reducing gun violence is increased law-enforcement efforts to crack down on underground and markets an gun carry and try to get the courts to support the police to crack into illegal gun carrying. the way we do on person in the united states right now is it's very disproportionately locally driven. cities cannot run budget deficits, so what happens when you something like the great recession. cities all over the country having to scale back if they can't find the budget deficit. that's what you don't want to do this, local employment during an economic downturn.

>> even the fiscal cliff to be right about now. >> this is a huge thing. justice program provides grants to law enforcement to hire more police. that program could easily be 20 or 30 times its billion dollars figure size. it would be one of the most productive things the federal government could do to make progress in this area. >> we agree 18 what the professor outlined in the latter part of what he said is to go after illegal gun market among law-abiding people. we're talking about felons on gun violence from the people engaged gun sales illegal under any interpretation of the law. and go after people with records carrying guns illegally. that's been done in cooperation with u.s. attorney in chicago. it's been reasonably good.

they think the important thing is to find ways to go after criminals here. what i'm afraid we're going to do things the assault weapons magazine is to do things that have an effect on people who are not criminals, law-abiding criminals and we still have time enough for hunting set of very little payoff. >> congressman. >> closing the gun show loophole is a no-brainer you could get both parties to vote on. what's been left out of the discussion is untreated mental illness. until we figure out how to reverse what happened in the 80s when he said quickly the doors to mentz told to shoot some people wandering the streets in some instances not taking their prescribed medication. some people never get the medication. until we come to grips with that, the professor's point, not

to be real partisan, but all of these issues get better if the united states congress and president of the united states had the courage to deal with the fiscal cliff and the budget deficit and everything else because the cops program, wonderful program. as a member of congress to go back and say a catchy 100 bucks. after three years the police officer rosoff under the payroll of the city and as a result if they're strapped, they're not happy after three years. more police is right, bordick to figure out how to pay for all this business and we can't pay for them it's all services and labor health and human services bill required by people commenting are crimes if we don't have the money. so america needs to face up to the problems. >> even if they solve the

problem, do you think there'd be common ground in the congress do something, to go back? >> absolutely. i will close with very open that the temptation today in this divided nation, you either red or blue. no purple anymore. the temptation is to save it but he stuck it in a shootings in connecticut. this is our moment. you go too far rather than fighting the doable. the doable as if it's a republican idea, they reject it. a democratic idea, half of america rejects it. america can only come together on this big issue. so america's leaders need to be in lockstep and say this is what we think it's going to solve the problem. >> first of all, i believe this is the original question.

were going to look back at some of it has gotten done. i have anything comprehensive background checks and all points of sale, be they gun shows or whatever needs to be done. i would not weaken it that congress will do too much. [laughter] you're going to stay up tonight and say congress is going to do too much. not going to happen. [applause] >> rescue assured that the congress is about to name is not going to go too far. the real worry is the moment forget last, which is why when you tax or the supreme court can't think of a religiously doable and what you need to get done. those three don't all line up

and you can't lose this moment in time because you eventually get supreme court you're going to get this too. the most important things you need from law enforcement community is about unchecked, limitation on the assault clips. so that to me, plus i would also do a soul fans. he focused on not because he's the three through to the supreme court, not just congress. i will say the cops program passed under bill clinton, which put 100,000 community policing is a program scaled back. steve having designed the program, close to three years and how they keep that on the program. [inaudible] >> every city except chicago.

>> to add to that, how do you keep the national dialogue going? how is it not just become a kind of street fight in the house of representatives and the nra? >> i'm not sure you're going to avoid a fight. when you see this coming to talk about where you grew up. there is a difference between the city of chicago, suburbs of chicago, cause i'm in montana where you have a home. we have to respect the different, but a lot of people understand the difference in why my view as politically, as was respect will i don't think

that's going to happen. today the doable, but five or six senators in this red state say what you do. >> i would go to the arkansas and say what can you do to get this thing done? >> if the senate. >> applicable folksong. they keep the temperature up, they're all taking naps. [laughter] inequity think about the nra position that we should have armed kurds interschool? this is from the audience, by the way. >> i don't think if you are going to keep the resources into coming up with that many armed security people, that would be

the best place to put them. schools, suppress them if they may be, if you're going to hire 50,000 cops were fined 50,000 volunteers, places where they could have a much bigger impact in school. >> congressman, would you consider going too far to limit gun violence? first of all to own guns as opposed to the consequences? >> too far and what i was talking about is some thing you can get 51 votes to 218 votes in the united states house of representatives and be signed into law by the president and will to be constitutional by five justices in the united states supreme court. and we do sadly today in politics and i'm really offended which he said about the congress. what we tend to do is try and develop the next campaign team,

rather than solving the problem. what's missing in america today in guns and everything else are people saying, what can we do? what can you take from, what do i need to get it done and get it out of town rather than making it a campaign issue to send your mouth to send us money to be at the other guy because he wasn't tough enough or we cannot or whatever the issue. >> chicago is a huge problem with illegally acquired weapons. i remember talking to predecessor who said you need the federal government to come in and crack down alcohol firearms on the tax issue. if they can bust and i'm not, we can go a long way towards disarming. some expense? >> i agree with mayor daley. the government can play huge roles and work puts resources

you do for drug enforcement over here, etf over here. u.s. attorney does nothing different. i think it has to be central, focused for u.s. attorney and the federal government to be more integrated and not give one example. in different parts of the city, and go with, austin, grin crossing. we've got additional resources from this perspective i enforcement agencies and the serious. we seen a decline in homicide. so how the federal government plays a role on the enforcement side. i'm not sure if i'm interpreting the rich also meant if you can't get them using a violation of tax dollars, off coupon for lack of a better example. >> professor, who affect if you believe gun buyback programs

could be in state government sponsoring them? >> the research community and gun violence issue is pretty contentious, just like the politics. the one thing all researchers agree on is the gun buyback programs are not affected things to do because the density of voluntarily turned in for 100 bucks or whatever we normally pay is like a 75-year-old widow turning in her recently deceased husband's world war ii service revolver. that is not a high risk crime gun. another thing that is a perfect is come as something superintendent mccarthy highlighted in new york city, which is offering people reward for information about somebody else having an illegal gun. i think that is a really promising idea and has the potential to get the same

deterrent effects to get toledo can carry a cheeky with new york city stefan frisk without having six or 700,000 stop and frisks. >> one of the examples i've used talking about social movements in the ground up instead of the top-down is mothers against drunk driving. drinking and driving is to be socially acceptable. god knows i did too much of it in the great things coming up in those members of my generation did as well. a housewife when she chatted to a drunk driver in the polls changed, was changed. now the new parent are beginning to speak out and organize themselves. do you think i will have any effect on the long-term? >> yes. i'll give you three different types, whether it's drinking and driving comment seatbelt,

smoking and all consequences that come from smoking and you can see value system and culturally, value some muscle come. were talking earlier, when i think were going to be different. the legislation is going to get past. we're passing a little more about who we are, what we are and what we want to be and i think that's going to be one of the biggest things that comes out of this won't be the legislation. >> what about the nra and how we can, if you live, to some degree, retool some of us, so it's not just a polarizing instrument. ..

panic about people having their guns taken away. if you go back and look at what the nra -- and as a this as somebody who on actual matters of policy is your back to what they said during the campaign,

what they said in 2008, take your guns away. going to ban handguns nationwide he was going to be the most antigun president in history. of course, he did almost nothing in the way of gun-control in his first four years. in back, the brady campaign gave him an f assessment of his record. so what did the nra do into dozens of? the capacity you know, we were wrong about obama. he is not really our guide. he is pro not the one to do very much to infringe on gun rights. well, they went back and said exactly the date -- the same things in 2012 that they said in 2008. i am afraid the nra is mostly interested in whipping up hysteria to raise money for itself and to perpetuate itself rather than to do anything particularly productive. >> soap responsible members of the nra, wonder if they will raise their hand and say wait a minute.

>> i wouldn't hold my breath on that. >> how much do you think the nra is promoting the interest of gun manufacturers and gun sellers? >> i don't know where they get their funding. obviously they get some from the gun industry. you can make a sort of case that the sort of tactics they used are helpful to get sales. you have a big surge in debt sales after obama was reelected. there are some places where big stores ran and ammunition. >> i look back at 9294 and also for, the big mistake is not enough pressure -- to much focus on the nra and not enough focus

on what the gun manufacturers are doing. one of the reasons i will meet with other mayors for a very big talk about this is putting pressure on the gun manufacturers. calling more of the shots of the nra than the other way around. question is in our end and manufacturers. they have a huge influence on what the nra does. the gun manufacturers are pushing. affecting their assets, money, and capital will actually begin to change what they say in how they deal. the nra, most importantly gun manufacturers who are big people from restrictions or change in policy for access to it does by criminals. that is a you have to go after. make sure there held accountable and deal with in that way. too much of this, the nra has played a very influential role, being funded a huge way. and that is essentially what is

happening. >> in the same thing will happen with retailers. walmart. a lot of protests about walmart and the sale of the ar-15 is are those kinds of platforms. walmart said its taking a hard look at it and we will see what the impact will be. >> i think this debate needs the nra, and the reason i say that, this is a political calculation. so ago when to a general motors plant before we want to company. you see all these united autoworkers who are not predisposed. they'll have nra. that is a political problem with democrats. and until you get a constructive nra in this debate, by not attacking attacking and attacking saying let's come together and solve this problem,

you're not calling to get southern democrats. >> why it has so many members is because it addresses something that generally gets overlooked which is the big cities in the media centers the mother is a subset of people, the people in the big cities really do not understand why perot people are attached to their guns and why they don't see them as this demonic force that a lot of urban politicians do. i think the reason the nra sustains its appeal to those people is because it addresses -- it tries to bring their concerns a congress that may not understand this issue very well. so there is a cultural divide here, and the nra stays on one side of that cultural divide. >> but think we talk about our

cultural and lifestyle differences, but that is why when you are trying to build a campaign effort it also has an impact on kind of the safety of any community. it has to be focused on criminal access to guns. that is where you can build. >> without a doubt. without a doubt, and that is why i think -- and there are exemptions from the type of crime that should have been -- actually dropped a should be added back in. i mean, a juvenile has been sentenced for violent crimes. their record is exempt when they become adults, and it shouldn't be. that was dropped from the original brady bill back in '93 in the senate. so that to me is where you can build a consensus by partnership without attacking. >> this is a rural community.

the cultural difference also goes making communities sifter. all communities will because what is happening is not small towns also. suburbs, and not all the big cities. >> at think the question we have to have. mr. mayor, you have teenage kids in chicago telling each other, you know, why is that a reason to infringe on the rights of people like me who are not a danger to anybody. i think politicians, leaders like yourself have to find ways to go after the people who are misusing guns in a criminal way without burdening the people who are not. >> he spent some time in the west. i think you have come to appreciate the difference in the culture having spent some time there. have other people from the big city areas to come to montana as well. one of them is senator schumer

of new york who got out there, and he was for a 55-mile an hour speed limit until the tide to go across montana at 55 miles-per-hour and realized it would take him a day's. >> a scary thought. [laughter] >> schumer in montana? >> yes. for eight days. >> but should there be a proactive efforts of some kind. lots of different groups at the grass roots level are coming together on this. can there be at the federal level an attempt to vary the cultures on this issue, is not marry them, to find common ground where they can work this out and talk to each other in a way that we don't know and the heat of the moment? if you go back. would you say to the president, you should go to colorado were wyoming and bring in the governors of those states and other interested parties? >> yes, but what i would do, there is a place and role and

actually, to tell you the truth, the farther you get from washington the more so that conversation will get. from a political standpoint. an e-mail that you read. but as see a town hall-like format in not the place we're going to find -- a consensus, but making some judgments. you're going to have a consensus which is more typical of the urban environment. you're going to go into -- let's get back to laura. let's go back to bring the communities in and around or, colorado, what i think is an important conversation because i think you will find there is probably more consensus around the country for what we refer to as responsible common-sense gun legislation that complement's. we will also find in republican areas a lot of support for after-school programs.

you will find a lot of that. so i think part of the way you get good at continuing that conversation, i would say that you dispel the cultural barriers. is very different to your reaction in montana. >> came to the staff to go fishing. as kid to my branch manager who is an avid outdoorsman and quite a political, owns a lot of guns but primarily traditional bow hunter. i said, rham emmanuel is coming. oh, my god. i've got to go hide my guns. and we left about this. they're going to love your guns. >> the secret service. >> the secret service came and they spend a lot of time. they came back on other occasions to go fishing as well. the secret service and my ranch manager actually bonded.

>> that's great. respecting that, and i want to use their rationing. you're rationing would understand what i'm trying to do here in the city of chicago. have respect for what is going on. the farther you get away you will have that conversation, actually in a political free zone that you could have that, and i think you will. >> here is the other half. the couple of years ago justice scalia came out. >> with dick cheney. >> he was not with dick cheney. [laughter] [applause] came up to montana to go fishing we have had justice o'connor and another piece of property. we had to give the judicial inclusion rule. there was a banker in bozeman, very conservative man called me in civil you taken fishing? said, i would.

i never really met him before. try to put committees by saying, look, the entire day is off the record because otherwise you be asking me about my judicial decisions and not be asking you about the news to me and he didn't want to go there. and my friend, the banker open the conversation in a provocative way by saying to me, they call him nino, his friends do. i took him down to the main street today in a ticket into a shop the very well-known merchants in bozeman, montana. you get so excited he came over and shook his hand enthusiastically and said to him, thank you for allowing me to keep my against. he was very pleased with having said that to me. and i said to my friend, even justice scalia knows that is not the issue. the issue is what goes on the inner city america. come to new york and see the illegal handguns in the carnage of visits on the neighborhood. and he said, that is the issue,

and that is a very tough one for the society to resolve. so those are the fissures in american society who goes across the cultural landscape that i think we all have to work a lot harder at. or want to thank you all very much for your attention. want to thank our panel. [applause] >> tonight here on c-span2, attorney general eric holder and tsa administrator john pistole at the u.s. conference of mayors followed by mayors and homeland security officials discussing the u.s.-mexico border. later, another look at gun violence was chicago mayor rham emmanuel and former congressman oeven latourette. >> i do solemnly swear. [applause] >> this weekend that 57

presidential inauguration as president obama begins his second term sunday, the official swearing-in ceremony at the white house live shortly before noon eastern. your phone calls and a look back at the president's 2009 inaugural address at 10:30 a.m. eastern. monday, the public inaugural ceremony with the swearing in at noon eastern at the u.s. capitol and other inaugural festivities including the capitol luncheon in the afternoon parade live all day coverage beginning at 7:00 a.m. eastern time on c-span , c-span radio and c-span.org and throughout the day join the conversation by phone, facebook and on twitter. >> and throughout inauguration day our website has additional features including video feeds from our c-span crews, video on demand of the day's major events , and a block of behind-the-scenes photos all at c-span.org.

>> attorney-general eric holder call on lawmakers to take to pass the president's plan to reduce gun violence and ignore pressures from gun rights groups. he spoke before the u.s. conference of mayors that also included remarks from transportation security administrator john pistole in seattle mayor mike mcginn. from washington d.c., this is just over an hour. >> good morning. i am a stickler for being on time, so we will get started with this meeting. i haven't eased parker mayor in houston and as chairman of the criminal and social justice committee. i have several co-chairs who don't happen to be here right at the moment. may join us in progress.

traditional. quickly introduce yourselves. the mayors that are here. we are on a fairly tight schedule. we may -- give us your name and city and we will go around quickly. >> davenport island. >> connecticut. >> east carper, conn. [inaudible question] >> corona california. >> layout, california. >> of carolina.

[inaudible] >> california. >> arlington heights. illinois. >> california. [inaudible] [inaudible conversations] >> i do have a co-chair who is here. thank you for being here. it is my honor to introduce our first speaker. we are going to hear from tsa administrator. july of 2010. came to tsa. 26-year veteran of the fbi with extensive national security and counterterrorism experience. after september 11th he was put in charge of the fbi is greatly expanded counter-terrorism --

counter-terrorism program and eventually became the fbi's executive assistant director for counter-terrorism and counterintelligence. in 2004 he was named deputy director for the fbi. administrative facilities, honored to have you here this morning and we look forward to your comments. please. >> thank you. thank you, mayor parker and for the opportunity to be here today to share a few things as you in terms of what tsa does, we do it , and how that impacts u.s. mayors of cities, it's a city of 30,000 to 3 million. many of you, because we have a large work force and working, some of your constituents may be tsa employees. for those of you in large cities, there may be dozens, if not hundreds of constituents in your cities. a couple of things i like to touch on, and then if we have

time for it? comments. one is the reason we do our work after the tsa was created, after 911 to prevent another terrorist attack from taking place. successful in doing that, pushing the boundaries out, if you will, to force those are trying to cause us harm to look at vulnerable points in the global system, the global aviation system particular. and for every attack, attempted attack that we have seen since 911, it has been from overseas. what we do is work in partnership with those airports to make sure that their baseline security and protocols and policies are at least at the point that it meets international standards. and so we work through the u.n., the international federal aviation organization to raise those standards to the point where we can have some confidence that the security

being provided at those point of departure to the u.s. is similar to ours. we believe that we have the best security in the world. it is a gold standard, and that is why it has worked elsewhere. over the last three years to master in the dedication of the terrorists, particularly the arabian peninsula, the light that they will go to to try to up low a u.s.-bound airliner. so we go back. you are all familiar. the young nigerian man who was given a device, a bomb that had no medal in it. that individual could walk through our typical airport, walk-through metal detector. ten times the 100 tons, 1,000 times and never set off alarm. so that is the reason we have the technology here in the u.s., because those unable us to pick up with the whole notion being

that's have those as a deterrent to force the terrace to try to come up with a new innovative ideas. fortunately that attack did not occur because simply technical issues with the device. best for two years to mature years ago on october 10th, you may recall there were two packages that were said to from human to chicago. given the track numbers for those devices are those two packages. both of them had printers, computer printers that had tottered cartridges in them that were actually bonds. we get the tracking numbers to provide those for security

officials in the united kingdom. they went and found the packages, open the. there is no device here. this is really getting -- go back. the second instance, the second occasion, they found it. on the other instance it took them three times to find it. what we're seeing is that there is a master bomb maker in yemen who is training others with bomb making, not only those two devices on talking about, the and were device, also used a thermal the vice to use his younger brother as a suicide bomber and kill a saudi official fast forward now to just this past year, april of last year there was another updated attempt again on the u.s. passenger. they give that a vice with the instructions were to get on the u.s.s. pound aircraft and blow

the plan up. now fortunately for ross this terrorist was actually a double agent for another security team. that individual was able to extricate himself and the device out of human improvised that device to a u.s. official which brought the device back here. we analyze the device. fortunately for aviation security worldwide this is a new occurrence. concealment. if you look at the glass in your table, it was not even that wide a little bit longer than that. very small. easily concealable. fortunately this individual, we're very fortunate in that regard. that is the challenge we're dealing with. facing the terrorist group that is innovative in their design, their construction, and the consumer of devices, so that is why security and therefore ordered 50, you don't.

but the notion of how we can use that information in an intelligence based wait. what i want to share with you here is how we have changed our one-size-fits-all approach aware of all the threats that they're out there. you hear a thing about what we call security, the notion that we cannot expect to provide 100 percent guarantees for everything. we screen almost 2 million passengers per day. checked bags. over 2 million carry-on bags. so nearly 6 million people with bags every day that restraint. and so what we tried to do is mediate or manage risk just as you do. you try to manage the situation. and so it's a recognition of that and how we can work in partnership with the traveling

public. if you're willing to share some information about yourself with us we can do deskilling of you for you have a different and expedite physicals green once you arrive at the checkpoint. we call it three check where we are operating at 35 airports around the country now. we are expanding to several more this year. and what that means is the my if you are known and trusted traveler then you go to a dedicated line. keep your shoes on, built on the amount the jacket on, in your carry-on bag and a laptop. it helps us from a security standpoint because we can spend more time on those we know the least about an expedite those two are not a threat. i think all of you would consider yourselves trusted. and so we would like to work with you on the possibilities of including measures. we have a booth set here where we are working with people.

two ways. one is signing up for global entry at the customs border protection program that allows you to re-enter the country when you come back to the u.s. that also qualifies you for tsa project. this is one of the policy changes we have done. the paradigm shift of moving from the one-size-fits-all. those of you who knows somebody 75 and older or 12 and under, picking keep their shoes on. a light jacket. about 100,000 passengers every day. members of the military. what in the past, trusted recognizing that there is no guarantee. always been accepting. and so we always see random and unpredictable as part of the process. pilots and flight attendants, over 95 percent of them, one under 70,000 per week go through

a different array of screening as opposed to jamming of the regular passenger line. and so there are other -- the intelligence community, 16 agencies with compartment to clearances. we know a lot about them. the same as if we had no reformation. that's part of what this initiative this. as we move for with that, the idea in 2013 and beyond is up to expand that population. so what we're interested in is working with you in identifying groups of people that may fit those categories of trusted, those who may want to sign up for global entry. we are looking at other opportunities. may call it global entry light for those who don't have passports. those who may be interested in having the project benefits. might be some type of expedited process. global entry is $100 for five years.

you do have to have a passport. so those are some of the things we're working on. a just want to make you aware. as we move away from that one size fits all construct to be more tailored and precise and of our passenger screening and our partners screening. for those of you are mayors, city of size that have airports their economic travers, engines for the local or regional community know how important it is to have a good safety and security. our job is to work in partnership and to make sure that we can help provide for the best treatment of people who go with the best possible security. thank you for your time this morning of the court to hear your questions. [applause]

>> we have considered this part of the program also heard mexico has a similar program as well.

it is to help promote people to come to the u.s. and it is a it has allowed us to travel into the country. >> thank you. [applause] >> now we will hear from michael mcginn and particularly in regards to human trafficking. there will be particular information that he will give to

implement in person age verification and also be exploitation of children will be talked about. >> thank you, mayor, for inviting me. this month, by the way, is the national human slavery and trafficking prevention month. our city council has passed legislation to do the same. the conference passed a resolution calling on that page.com to end the sexual explication of minors. before doing now, i will just describe the problem briefly. we know from our police department and human services providers that when we took a look at king county and our seattle reach out, there were somewhere between three and 500 underage young women who are

being sold for sex online in the area. that was kind of shocking to us. i don't think this is a seattle problem, we are seeing what's happening in a lot of places. basically what happens is wonderful young women, whether they are immigrants or whether they come from a broken home or a bad situation at home, they are preyed upon and forced into this life of being sold for sex. they are in an abusive relationship that is similar to domestic violence and these young women are controlled. it is very horrifying. we changed our us to view these

as victims of crime and not perpetrators of crime. we work with a program called the bridge. trying to take them out of this life. which is very challenging because they will work to bring this person back if they can they create an environment. this person may return again to it if they are fearful. what we know is that the internet has changed how this works. it's advertised online. back page.com is one of the key places where it happened. our police department has recovered 25 women that were for sale on that page.com. and you will find that escorts are being advertised in your

city. you don't know whether those are over 18 or under 18 years old, but i can tell you that neither does the service back page.com. we asked them to have everyone be id who is an escort. and they did not. back page.com, they own print publications and a number of cities, including the seattle weekly. as a result of that pressure,, that was a success story. unfortunately there is bad news as well. legislation was passed saying that to advertise children for sale on internet criminal if you facilitated that.

the criminal offense would be if you had in person age verification, in fact, the provisions to prevent this. this new criminal law, unfortunately, i don't think that congress meant to allow companies to kind of know there is disregard in regards to these practices. we are going to try to go back again and work on that. back page.com makes millions of dollars a year off of this and it is one of their primary

things. and they refused to institute practices to stop it. other online advertising companies that have this practice don't have the same problem. the next step we are taking in seattle is that we are going to have a conference up and down the archive quarter. now we don't know if these women are under age. and neither does back page. it was in the big cities and also a little cities like moses lake and bend and this person is just transported from place to place. the capacity to respond to that and catch up to it is challenging. we are working with a local company, microsoft, to work on better technological solutions and so our departments can share information and in the field, right then and there, we have

young women who we should be seeking to recover and if it is a pimp, we should seek to arrest them. the internet has really accelerated this. tsa also plays a role and i'm sure there is more that can be done. i want to thank you for the work that has been done on elevating this issue. it's a very uncomfortable issue. to talk about this and understand that there are young women in our community being exploited in this way is horrible and it's hard to believe that it is as bad as it is. but i would like to impress upon you that it is happening in your community as well. so we all need to come together to find a way to change the climate where men feel like it's okay to go online and buy this, and we need to have better tools to combat it and maybe we need to take a look at our own

federal laws about what is or is not free speech and what is or is not appropriate regulation. thank you for your work. [applause] human trafficking is a major point for human trafficking. i have a task force that deals with human trafficking and domestic and international trade of human beings. it is also for domestic labor. it is a growing problem in the united states and whether it is

a sex worker or a nanny who might be in and voluntary services and brought over by new household -- or your favorite nail salon lady. they are able to leave that salon and travel freely. it's something we are beginning to look at. i have been joined by one of my cochairs from des moines, iowa. i'm glad to have you here. we are expecting the attorney general shortly. they have assured me, as you know, how this works. but there there is no other question on the human trafficking issue. yes, ma'am?

>> [inaudible question] >> what we are trying to do in our region is talk about her campaign [inaudible question]

[laughter] >> i don't know if you had anything he wanted to add to that. i can tell you that i don't think prosecution is the oldest profession, but possibly politics is. we are focusing violence and gun

violence. columbine in 1999, virginia tech in 2007 in fort hood in 2009. tucson, arizona in 2011, six people murdered. including oak creek has six murders and the december 14 tragedy which includes 20 young children and six educators. that incident is still with us. and we must cope with the violence that occurs on our own city.

mayors and police chiefs and cities from all sides have worked together in this effort over the years. in an open letter to the president and the congress, sent us three days after the newtown, connecticut tragedy occurred, there was a statement urging immediate action, now more than 200 mayors have signed on to the letter. we are calling on the president to exercise powers through executive orders or through the congress to make reasonable changes in our gun laws and regulations. specifically we called on congress to enact legislation to ban assault style weapons and high-capacity magazines. we asked them to strengthen the national their national background check system and eliminate loopholes within it and we are very well aware that

whether it is a mass shooting or a murder on a street corner, it would take much more than strengthening our gun laws are in we have a culture of violence in our nation so that a violent act should be compensated for wrong. what can we do about that? we need to strengthen and adequately fund our mental health system so that we can identify trouble individuals earlier and give them hope that they need. we are aware that the affordable care act places much more emphasis on mental health and we need to make sure that that we link the work that we do with access to appropriate mental health or the plan which he unveiled on tuesday, of which you have a copy in front of you here, and the vice president

discuss with us yesterday, it is everything the cold war and more. i welcome now the attorney general of the united states. and i am assuming that he will address that in many other issues along these lines. he served as the u.s. attorney for the district of columbia and we appreciate the leadership which mr. eric holder has brought to the department. mr. attorney general, you have helped us with violence prevention and has helped many of our cities get a focal point

to come back to combat violence. i know you are an important member of the vice president presidents working group, and it is our honor to have you here as a speaker. [applause] it is a pleasure for me to be here and a privilege to be included once again in this annual forum. i would also like to thank male -- mayor michael nutter. i would like to thank every person on the committee to take part in this important session. for more than a decade from this organization has brought together dozens of our nation's

best and brightest public servants to share ideas and expertise we want to work with many of you to address some of the most complex public safety challenges that we are all facing. it is an honor to join with vice president biden, administrator annise parker and other leaders from across our nation. adding my voice to this very critical dialogue, in particular, i am grateful for this opportunity to thank you for your service and leadership and your partnership.

the engagement is essential in protecting our citizens from harm. it steals too many promising futures. you understand exactly what it is that we are up against. not only because you hear the alarming statistics and read the news stories, but because you see it. you see it firsthand. most important, you recognize as i do. no public safety challenge can be understood in isolation. that none of us can make the progress that we need and secured the results on our own.

on a number of occasions, leaders have joined with those who support one person and to strengthen anti-violence initiatives. especially recently. the most vulnerable among us are children. many of you have helped us as we honor it sandy hook elementary school and the realization of unacceptable levels of gun violence in cities and towns everyday. also the individual tragedies that take place, they go all too often unnoticed. it includes our shared responsibility not just of gun

related crimes and the need for vigorous enforcement of laws, but for the underlying conditions that arise to gun violence. the overwhelming majority of gun owners are responsible law-abiding citizens. but yet we have seen how easy it can be for dangerous people to acquire deadly weapons. it is time to consider what common steps we can take together to save lives. this means doing everything that we can use the tools and resources to keep guns out of the hands who are not and should not be allowed.

we are content with the statutes that president obama adopted earlier this week. many of my fellow cabinet members are representative with more than 200 groups to help formulate law enforcement leaders and firearms owners and technology experts and gun safety advocates. retailers and mental health professionals. members of the clergy, victims of gun violence, and members of the education industry. the conversations we had were frank and wide-ranging and

conclusive. the consensus that emerged was clear. as president obama said, there is one thing that we can do to reduce this violence, if there is one life that can be saved, we have an obligation to try. this is what drove the administration on a range of legislative remedies along with 23 executive actions to mass shootings and prevent gun violence. on wednesday president obama signed directives putting these into action. my colleagues and i will continue to do everything in our power to maximize and implement the recommendations for keeping our people safe for our cities and neighborhoods and schools

secured. the ability to tackle this challenge depends on the willingness of americans to make a positive difference. we can begin calling for immediate action. as a president the president indicated, congress should move swiftly without legislation to strengthen our ability to keep criminals and other dangerous individuals from getting access to deadly weapons. we could do so today with the help of a licensed dealer. many licensed dealers throughout the country already facilitate

firearms transfers between private individuals on a regular basis. and we are encouraging more to make sure that all sales are subject to a comprehensive background check. this affects the integrity of the background check system as a whole. it has proven remarkably effective, enabling gun dealers to have background check determination on the spot. this has also helped us keep more than 1.5 million guns from falling into the wrong hands over the last 14 years. we can and must do even better. the information included, tearing down barriers that prevent federal agencies and some states from sharing

relevant records and making sure there are laws are as effective as possible comes to identifying those that should not have access to firearms. this week president obama president obama took executive action in support of these rules and at the same time, putting an end to the nonpartisan research and the cdc. and we have directed them to resume the strategy prevention. we need to respond to active

shooter situations. in addition, at the president's direction, the administration is making clear that under existing laws, doctors are in no way prohibited to work with individual communities and school districts to develop plans to make our schools safe. and we will regularize access to mental health services for all who need them. let me be very clear. not one of these executive orders, contrary to what you have said, infringes upon anyone's second amendment rights or the historical use of executive power. all this is just really the beginning. in addition to these actions and proposals, the administration has called on congress to ban high-capacity magazines, including those used in

shootings. updated and stronger than the one enacted in 1994. consider a series of new federal laws imposing tough penalties on gun traffickers who get weapons to dangerous criminals. these measures represent a central part of a serious conference at effort to eradicate gun violence. today i joined president obama and vice president biden and countless americans urging congressional leaders to adopt these measures without delay. i would like to also talk about todd jones the director of the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms. it is critical as a justice department component. to eliminate the misguided restrictions that require the

atf to allow the importation of the dangerous weapon simply because of their age. it comes time when those of us who must put the interests of those who we are privileged to serve above that it might be politically expedient or professionally unsafe. this is one of those times. to improve our enforcement capacity for lost or are we on the books, by enacting commonsense legislation and limit high capacity magazines, i am confident that we can and

will make significant strides in reducing the violence that too often afflict our communities. this administration is determined to take her gun violence prevention efforts to a new level. we get did work with leaders like you to strengthen how we can put an end to these crimes secure a better future for all of those who we are privileged to serve. in addition to implementing the orders that the president announced president announced on wednesday, my colleagues and i remain committed to standing with america's mayors and strengthening anti-violence initiatives that are already underway. since 2009, this has saved the justice department money. it equips the justice department with tools and what it means or

policing service. he was awarded $1.5 billion to protect 8000 jobs in law enforcement. we are seeking $4 billion more in our next budget. our office has also been forging stronger relationships with officers and law enforcement organizations across the country and building a platform. we are enabling officers to participate in prevent and to survive violent encounters. initiatives like the bulletproof vest program for helping to provide equipment that is quite simply saving lives. we are bringing you a variety of things together and supporting research to help combat

unacceptable levels of violence among and directed towards our nation's youth. we can be proud of these and other efforts to reduce violence as you have been discussing this week, and is the president has made clear, this is not a time for us to be complacent. we need to ensure the safety of our citizens and first responders. each of the leaders in this room has the power and responsibility to make a positive difference. we all had a central roles to play everyone of us has been given a rare chance to strengthen this nation and help determine its future. as we conclude today's session,

as we begin planning, i urge you all to keep the conversation would have begun this week and work together with the goals of we all share. as partners and indispensable leaders for your contributions and your service and your unyielding dedication to protection and improving the lives of others. thank you all very much. [applause] >> thank you. [applause] i had several mayors asked me prior if the attorney general would take questions,

unfortunately he's he did not do this on a tight schedule. but there is an official letter from the u.s. conference of mayors on the issue of guns and gun violence and gun safety. more than 200 mayors have signed it. if you are not one of the mayors who had signed onto that, you have an opportunity to do so today. we would be happy to have you as part of that. texas is a gun owning state. personally, i am a gun owner and believe in the right to bear arms. but i have two agree with my fellow mayors that there are regulations we could put in place that will make us safer.

and i know that some of the mayors in the room today have had similar thoughts, those of us in parts of the country who are supportive of personal ownership of weapons to step up and make our voices heard. could you address that issue? if you would state your name first, please. >> okay, you have the lucky microphone. go ahead. all right. >> [inaudible question] [inaudible question]

[inaudible question] washington is going to come in and take their guns and we on the front lines are in a better position that these plants can be implemented without this great fear of washington coming in and taking their guns. the administration also came up with a package that some did not wish to have.

[inaudible] so we could push it down to the local level, i think we would be much more careful. taking guns away, it is largely a fear of a national government taking guns away. they can vote me out of office quickly. so we could give them power i think we can be helpful and that's what we are urging. well, it is a fear of washington more than a fear of other things. >> would anyone like to weigh

in? >> thank you, i took the liberty to speak to my police chief nasa to assess things in the community. it is something that i heard the attorney general mentioned, it was that he would anticipate major professional law enforcement organizations support an important recommendation. but that's never been mentioned and it has been silent about where the justice department and the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms has been. as you heard, they haven't met for six years. >> they've been working, but they haven't had a director. >> this is probably why the comments about do we have to wait for washington to do something exists.

he focused on three areas that i heard consistently now for the last three years is the background checks. they have to be done no matter who you are and should be done. that would be one way to make certain. the assault weapons and high-capacity magazines or something that even hundreds would agree that those are necessary. why can't we actually enforce the gun laws that we now have? seems like some places in our country, they are kind of ignored or forgotten. and depending on the climate, we need to really push and work together because we cannot watch our children be gunned down.

this is probably the most horrible thing i've ever heard of. all of these catastrophic events and to walk into a school and shoot first and second grade children -- there is -- it's just incomprehensible in the u.s. conference of mayors is slated to push it. we need each and every one of you to let your congress member no that something has to be done or they will be considered as do nothing. this is too big to push around and debate for weeks or months and then do nothing. we need to address it. >> thank you. [applause] i see someone over here would

you like to weigh in as well? >> i've had discussions with our chief of police and we have all gone over a lot of issues that we are concerned about. when we talk about assault weapons having been in the military myself, i am not a concern, although i know a lot of people are without a weapon looks. and most concerned with how it operates. when i pull the trigger, is there one bullet coming out, with three bullets coming out, or are there more than that coming out. that is what makes the difference between a military style weapon -- i'm less concerned about whether it has a handgrip on it were this enough.

>> yes, sir, and i know the major city police chiefs are interested in this as well. >> hello, i think it's admirable that mayors put this at the forefront. i don't know how many local cities have ordinances in their own cities that would address the high-capacity magazines and background checks. and i think would help it would help our congressional leaders and president ford is it the mayors, that they would make those kinds of things easier in our own cities. local ordinances have been passed that would then send a message to congressional leaders and they would like to have this port on the local level.

i'm asking about addressing those kinds of issues. >> would sooner you come? >> california. they have all passed laws to preempt local government. this is why the administration in making the resources available, if we have the resources, we would not have to enforce the laws to get folks off the street. i wouldn't need any more laws passed. there are people who are opposed

to this. there are people post more cops on the street. this is why do we will come up with an approach that is based on the auction if you don't know what they're offering, that's your business. but even with resources away are, we can make a big dent in get around all of those laws. >> and looking around the room and i think california may -- >> we have restrictions as well. for instance, private sales. you know? then we have ongoing things in cities. if a private sale is made and

that individual has to report it. we have things that i think we can look at and view but are not restricted by state or federal orders but we can't deal with. dealing with high-capacity magazines, making private sale owners register with the police department. then putting a burden on them and we are looking at this is that private sale is not reported on that gun is used in a crime, that person could be held liable. so i think there are a lot of things we can do to start strengthening laws and making it tougher for them to happen. we just can't rely on congress and i give all my blessings to

the president to get things through. we just can't rely on him. i think it's got to be reversed. the local mayors need to start passing ordinances that they know that they can pass like high-capacity magazines and my daughter police officer and i asked her what is the amount that you need to carry in your gun is a police officer. it is 15 rounds. so we have to level the playing field. so why not pass local ordinances that passes. i think mayors can do that on the local level. >> we are running close to the end of our time here today. yes, sir?

>> press the microphone button. >> as other side of the room is lucky. [laughter] >> i think that most states have some level of preemption. so that is our only option. i do think this is a national matter it really requires a uniform approach. >> [inaudible question]

we may not be able to have these enforcement titles. [inaudible] [inaudible] one of the police officers that was in brooklyn that was shot and died. >> we have to protect our children as well. >> of the things i think we can think about, even in those states where we don't have the ability to preempt state laws with some of these issues is that our police departments are

one gun manufacturers and they weigh in on this issue, i think as major customers, we have the opportunities to engage with them. one of the things i'm going to do when i get home to sit down with my purchasing department and we are going to figure out just what we spend annually on guns and ammunition. we start putting our dollars after, we, too, can be a voice that the industry should be listening to. i thank you for your time and attention today, and thank you for being a part of this meeting. if you have issues that you would like to have the address, please send us an e-mail and before we always, arlene come you have been doing this for 20 years. you are about to be leaving us.

we want to thank you for your service. [applause] >> coming up on c-span2, mayors and homeland security officials discussed issues along the us-mexico border, followed by chicago mayor rahm emanuel and steve locked thread talking about gun violence. later, another look at attorney general eric holder and john pistole from the u.s. conference of mayors. >> tomorrow on "washington journal", the co-author of grand theft childhood talks about her book. the author of more guns, less crime, off of his perception

on "washington journal" is live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> the first ladies that i am drawn to are the ones that were sort of modern-day first ladies. the ones that i can identify more with it. people like eleanor roosevelt, jackie kennedy, those are the women stories feel that i can connect with. many of the women on the stage floor, they seem like characters from a wonderful story because it was such a long time ago. if history when he read about it in books.

i remember the real stories and i can picture their lives in an incredible way it makes me think about their challenges and struggles. >> the first ladies private and public lives. c-span is teaming up with the white house historical association first ladies influence and image airing over two seasons. season one begins presidents' day at 9:00 p.m. eastern and specific on c-span, c-span radio and c-span.org. >> now a discussion about the us-mexico border and issues of trade and immigration. speakers include the mayors of phoenix and new mexico and laredo, texas. an assistant secretary of homeland security.

this is one hour and 20 minutes. >> hello, everybody. thank you for being here. i am simon rosenberg and the new policy institute and we are here today as part of our 21st century border project, which is now close to 2.5 years old. we have a wonderful panel today. i don't know the exact numbers, but this is probably unfair to prevent the we have done, bringing voices from the border region and we have had probably a total of 60 to 70 mayors and sheriffs and other local officials who have been here in

washington helping to share their perspective about the unique challenges and opportunities in the border region, and this is a particularly esteemed panel that we have today. i would like to thank you all for coming. part of the premise of this project and we began a few years ago was really just an acknowledgment and recognition of how much america was changing in mexico was changing. we are going to be hearing from the former ambassador here in a minute. the most important bilateral relationship in the past is what mexico. i am a raging representative of

the court order. but i think that this idea that america is going through demographic changes, to the ways that immigration is taking place, that we are increasingly becoming a country that is west of europe and north of latin america and east of asia. there is a huge change going on in the understanding of who we are and where we are going in the 21st century, and i think it helps to bring our new sensibility to an old city here in washington. so thank you for being part of this journey with us. what i'm going to do is introduce our first speaker. but i will be doing the introductions after allen gives us some insight. it is my great pleasure to introduce him in person.

we do this work because of allen. he was a potter and the pusher, telling us that we needed more help in making this case. he had been involved in these issues and he says it in a way that i can't exactly graphically. but he has held so many jobs in public and private life and has been such a leader everywhere that he has gone. he has been involved in helping shape our strategy towards the border region in the united states now for a generation. janet napolitano was lucky enough to get him to come back for one more term of service here. he is now currently the assistant secretary for international affairs, where he is involved is the chief diplomat working all over the world and gives him the ability to stay involved which is this

burgeoning u.s. mexico relationship. >> we need a border where more good things get through unless passing it through. please join me in welcoming allen. >> thank you, simon, for that gracious description which is generally correct. but much to focus on individual effort. coming up with this new debate and discussion with immigration reform, we look at the border in the context of this.

americans should really recognize that over the last 20 years, i will tell you that whether it is about the state of the border today, it was genuinely out of control 20 and 25 years ago. hundreds of thousands of people are coming across the border without any regulation at all. ..

under both parties for a very long time. so let me talk to you about why the border is not what it used to be in the future of the border is not what it used to be. [speaking in spanish] it's not what it used to be. two large reasons for that. first, mexico is not what he used to be. in the sense of its politics and economics and society, mexico

has the 13th largest economy in the world today. $1.16 trillion. the oecd predicts in 2042, when regeneration, mexico will have his archer economy than germany's. this is not me. this is the oecd project enough things being equal. therefore notwithstanding the inequality that exists in mexico that has to be dealt with and will be dealt with over time, the fact of the matter is that texaco socially is becoming more and more middle-class society and that is reflect to and every one of the usual measures. demographically, lifestyle, in terms of fertility rate, number of students in university, quality of the housing.

all of these trends have brought mexico to the point where it is becoming predominately of middle-class society and will continue to move in that direction. and third, mexico lyrically speaking is a functioning democracy. not perfect, nor is our democracy perfect. but when you look at their electoral system, if you look at the way in which freedom of the press has been moved into mexico with passion, he began to see the development of an extraordinary political change. in fact, some would say to her work position of the mexican people and president calderon in taking on the mafia was very

much a part of this democratization, to do with the corruption and organized crime offers to its politics and society. this is a very important story happening in the border landers have to recognize the impact that has on our border and therefore, the debate we are beginning to have with regard to immigration reform. in fact, let me look at the different to the border. not in terms of the usual, it is safer or more secure, but the record there is clear and i don't think we need to debate that it is safe or secure, but the problems we face are different. for most of the last generation, been concerned about the flows of people and in fact, the element with regard to

immigration reform as we need to do with future flows because everyone recognizes academic to 86 act, not having dealt with future flows of people actually do recovery take credit for bipartisan achievements of the order. we have to make a nice present for 12 million people here illegally was also a bipartisan development or failure, depending on your taste. the fact that they go forward, the flows of people is going to be a different actuation because if you look at the changes in mexico, the growth of the economy, the change in the demographics, we do not see the birth rate having gone from 6.7 in the name in seven days per women in mexico is now down to 2.1. so that old should mexican youth

to build this country, legally or eagerly over the last generation is drying up, which explains why, and mayor salinas knows this, although the numbers are way down and out tickets are actually not mexican. one out of two people or central american who are being driven by the forces of violence and poverty, very much in which the push at a mexico, which i contend is coming to an end is now tending to defend the essential america. so the problems we face are not the problems of the past, that we shouldn't be discussing them in terms of the past. we should be talking about how do we work with our mexican partners as we continue to strengthen the border because this is not the border is secure and therefore we need not do

anything more with regard to border security. that's not the position. but how we address border security changes in what we do to continue to build on this great bipartisan achievements is really our challenge. the other major factor heir to the border will talk about for the economy. this is about looking up cross-border economy to take advantage of this huge growth in the mexican economy and to see how we can create jobs in the united states and how we can together as north americans actually compete with people in east asia, indian sub continent in brazil and we don't want to compete on wage rates. the way in which we compete economically and across borders

by spring-training transaction costs down on the cross-border flows of goods because increasingly what we are seeing a shared reduction platforms in mexico and the united states for a single product. before that product is sold and finally assembled, it may have crossed the border to her three or four times. when we drive down the costs of crossing the border, we do ourselves a disservice. therefore when we approached the border, both in terms of security and economic competitiveness, we have to invest, but not the way we did in the past. we have to invest in infrastructure. we need to invest in new ways of managing cross-border flows. we have to reinvent many methods they used to get goods and people across the border and in

fact, those efforts are underway. yesterday we met with representatives of president pena nieto's issues and how we deal with infrastructure needs, how to coordinate voting up infrastructure, had we changed the way in which reprocess goods and people so we end up with security and economic competitiveness. because same meter as you are to hear from the mayor's, let me summarize the case then. the border is not what it used to be in the future of the borders that would be used to be because we have in fact it's american people in the american government created a border that works are the standpoint of protecting security and safety entries, that is in a position to continue to strengthen itself, that is poised also to

become a gateway to north american prosperity in terms of the shared production things in our countries. to create a legitimate arguably legitimate labor market between the united states and mexico, where people can cross legally and work legally and live legally, we should see this as a great challenge and yes, strengthening the border remains a major part of it. the rooster in the border at this juncture is different and we need to recognize that. i trust that our mayors will chavis points out with greater elegans -- eloquence. inside [speaking in spanish] a french poet said the is not a big is supposed to be a mission

across the both hands. [applause] >> thank you, alan. as he was speaking because we have been people here who are new to this debate, and many have been part of this debate for the one-time, one of the most striking acoustics i found a describing how the future is not what he used to be his two-day mexico represent our third-largest trading partner, second-largest export market. today we trade as much mexico as we did to japan, germany and united kingdom combined and almost as much as in china. part of the learning we've gone through this project has been to review mexico's, not as a vibrant economic partner as it rose it will be able to help us grow as well. syllable now do is get to the fun part of the program and were going to start with mayor greg

stanton, mayor of phoenix, arizona come what may kids to place to go in the coming on march by the way. mayor stanton had experience as a lawyer working in local government. relevant for today is slow, who's the deputy attorney general in the state attorneys general officer he helped lead the effort to the fun of our callous -- cartels. he was elected in your first term and he's joined here today. i do want to say, let me recognize if you've mayor suffice to say we have mayor john cook from el paso is here. tony martinez from brownsville. the newly elected mayor of san diego who is no stranger to washington debate. i think we saw -- who am i forgetting here?

and so, please join me in welcoming our first guest today, mayor greg stanton. [applause] >> thanks, simon very much. i appreciated this framing comments by alan bersin from the department of security. welcome to the mayor's club. my understanding is used to serve in congress and i have upgraded to be in a mayor. [laughter] i'm still a relatively ricky mayor i took in early january and made increasing trade with mexico one of my highest priorities and my partner in that effort is mayor jonathan ross chatted to some he's doing a right now, but he'll be back down. all the mayors on the dais here today will recognize in this

effort, mayors are going to lead the way. we are where the rubber meets the road. our number one job is job creation and economic development. the point you made at the beginning that her relationship with mexico is the united states number one bilateral relationship. you're not going to get any disagreement from the people who will speak here today. why is it the case? to paraphrase president clinton, its mass. it's simple math for us to have economies that are so related to what goes on at the border and south of the border. to bookmark a stamp on by alan bersin had said. texaco is the world's 13th largest economy. watch out, do so because mexico will pass the soap in the very near future in the not-too-distant future expected to be the world's fifth-largest economy. i heard during my lifetime and

kids lifetime the united states remains the world's leading economy. we have a growing junk to the south and shame on us if we don't take better advantage of that growing economic giant. in arizona obviously the issue of immigration and immigration reform has been a hot issue, sometimes a difficult issue and i've considered it one of my responsibilities as mayor of the major american theater in the sixth largest city in america is as we debated these difficult issues and occasionally pass bills in arizona that are too divisive anesthetists in the wrong direction to remind people of maine my state how import the economic relationship is with mexico in phoenix. we will soon be a majority latino city and not population is a disproportionally and population and overwhelmingly

bilingual population, a population that understands and appreciates various cultures in our region in mexico and central america and latin america with large knowing that fact and the growing economic giant to herself, i smell economic opportunities and we should take advantage of the demographic shifts going on in our community. let's give our young people graduating college, hope they stay local communities have border cities putting phoenix and tucson and have them focus on international trade. it is incredibly important to the future of our community. this guy to realize their proximity to the border is not a negative thing had none of us are naïve to the fact, but over the long haul, proximity to the border is a huge economic advantage for the cities in this region. i know the issue of the day, one

of the two issues of the day, can relate to, but i hope and pray that gun related issues don't get in the way of congress dealing with comprehensive immigration reform in a city, in my state we need it badly. is a long time overdue and in part, some of the bills at a very reflect it a public frustration of the lack of action here in washington and a think now we are at a unique confluence of good policy and politics coming together and as mayor of a city that our future economy so dependent on strong relationships with mexico and city south of the border, manned, i do not want to miss this opportunity. this is a unique opportunity to put in issue behind us and of course we need stronger border

security. china alan bersin has some ideas on how we can get stronger border security. none of us are the fact, but we should never ever let the need for stronger border security get in the way of the need for increasing trade with mexico. i know in my city and i speak for a mayor rothschild as well, we know we need our infrastructure financing at the point of entry. we know we need more financing for ports and opportunities for goods and services to come to our community through waterways, which we do have a unique opportunity to do so in phoenix and tucson region. so we need to get the policies right, but we also need to get politics right. now congress has the right thing, takes advantage of the moment and passive comprehensive immigration reform. we can get past evasiveness we've seen in the past and move

forward. it is time for all of us with this country in my state to move forward in a positive direction. so i'm an optimist and i am excited about this unique moment and i know the other mayors will say a few words in a moment, but i speak on behalf of the mayors, especially those with close proximity to mexico and our friends in congress, now is the time. get the job done. don't let the perfect and the way way of the good. passcode public policy, immigration reform now is the time and the issues we've seen in arizona will go away. the business community is to go to the pétain.com and it's sad when it comes to divisive laws to our friends in the legislature, they said essentially knock it off your focus on jobs, economic development, education. people architects have been

recalled so in arizona we are fully ready to move on, but when he congress to do their part and get immigration reform passed now. as a mayor of the city with close proximity to mexico i appreciate this organization theory been doing this for a long time and a very sensitive policy-based way we make any argument for making the relationship with mexico a higher priority and making the right case for companies of immigration reform. her time is now as well, so we appreciate you holding the line and doing the right thing for you. time and may have mayors on the podium ready to savor here to help come here to make the case is white is so important for the economy of our community and future of our cities and state. thank you for inviting me to say a few words. i think you're a consistent

theme among the mayors and i look forward to a question-and-answer period with the outstanding people in the audience. thank you so very much. [applause] >> were next going to hear from mayor raul salinas from laredo, texas who brings a wealth of experience to his job. he served time in washington as a capitol police officer and also an aid to kiki that are so from a well known a legendary political figure in washington. he also went on to say or that the u.s. embassy in mexico city within the f. ei has also a legal attaché. his experience will help all of us here at better understanding of challenging issues and were grateful in this very busy week he's taken some time to be with us today. they are selling mass, welcome.

[applause] >> thank you very much. it's indeed a pleasure to be here. [speaking in spanish] the time is now for immigration reform. we've been waiting too long. in 2007 we introduced a resolution in the city of laredo it passed unanimously and we have been planning the seed and it's time now to recover those crops. i think we're on the right track. i can tell you, laredo, texas is a city of 275,000. we have about 400,000 good neighbors, good friends, good families and back then, you remember how they wanted to build a wall. i thought that was the most ridiculous thing. you don't pull a ball and turned her face and your neighbors and that's what we fought it all the way. we will not hold walls.

we will build bridges of friendship. that's what it's about. this dialogue and conversation has to be positive. we know there's certain things that have to be tweaked and when i see my dear friend, alan bersin, you've been an integral part of promoting trade along the border and that's what it's about. i don't no if you know this, but in laredo, texas, we cross 10 to 12,000 trucks a day northbound and thought down. so how in the hack can you say i am going to build the wall. that's not being friendly. so i think the idea is to make friends. it's a timer country needs to be strong is that we want to be your friend. you will stretch our hands, especially when you're crossing when the dollars of trade each

and every day. $217 billion go through laredo, texas. 60% of the trade and you think i'm going to turn my back on people helping us create jobs? that's not the american way. i asked those who say, well, i don't know whether we should have immigration reform. i would ask you all, would you give an opportunity, not automatic citizenship, to which you give them an opportunity to become citizens if they have served in iraq and afghanistan. would you turn your back on them after they've gone and left their blood in foreign soil? that kind of conversation needs to be related to the congress that the united states. but it has to be in a bipartisan way and we have to take care of business. i don't think it's fair that we

continue to keep 11 million people in the shadows. immigrants contribute elegance and billions of dollars and they work hard to support their families. when i was an fbi agent in mexico city was suddenly hot cases related to current toll kidnapping, were a parent would take a child. and i feel i'm a pretty strong guy. i'm not going to fama macho guy. i'm just a kindhearted guy, but he had to do my job. but i cried when i had to separate this kid and that's what we're seeing. the people obey the law, followed the law, get an education ,-com,-com ma give them the chance to be guided and citizens of this country. just make sure that we have

immigration reform that we have a fair immigration reform. do we understand security. i can tell you porting mayors know very well at the border commie talk about el paso, you have the lowest crime rate along the border in the rio grande valley in your part of the country. yet unfortunately, when you really say my gosh, laredo, texas, you can even want to die. the problem is on the other side. people need to come to the border and see what's happening. i would invite the congress, men and women and senators to come to the radio, texas and the border and see how trade is booming. that's what it's about. this conversation of comprehensive immigration reform is a positive conversation.

i think everybody would agree that we don't want smugglers. we don't want your dealers. we don't want any criminals in this country. i think that's very clear. i can tell you the fbi agent, i think i know a little bit about security having spent 30 years of law enforcement. but that's misinformation and i think that's the problem. but i've got to tell you, and the last couple of days at the conference of mayors, i've got to tell you i see a lot of my friends that are on the other side of the aisle. back to couple yesterday told me, i was against immigration reform. in fact, i was a delegate for the gentleman that ran against president obama and i think i got the message because there is a clear mandate. but it's about working together, doing the right thing for

america. if you want the american dream, give them a chance and particularly, love the streamers who work so hard to want to contribute to the u.s. economy. that's what it's about. the time is [speaking in spanish] this is the time. people want the american dream and work for it, why not. this is america, the land of dreams, where dreams come true. god bless you, thank you. [applause] >> next step, a visitor from new mexico, grew up in albuquerque miso make a lot of trips to new mexico. people in new mexico have a special place in the heart. but mayor ken miyagishima is

coming back. he's a repeat guest here from las cruces, new mexico and among other things, last crusade has given us the assistant secretary of commerce has been working so much as a partner with us and others in furthering the relationship between the u.s. and mexico, so thanks for help being giving us. he's been mayor since 2007 and israeli been a great partner with us over the last two years, advancing a better job. thank you are being here. take it away. [applause] >> hate to tell you, good afternoon, everybody. good evening. welcome to our discussion today on the perspectives of the u.s.-mexico border region. i'm bringing my notes only to keep amtrak because i know we're running a little slow when time. anytime you give a mayor and

microphone are not in come he can go on and on. i never running short. but i would just like to tell you, my name is ken miyagishima. those of you wondering about me, my mom's next american and i was born in mississippi. so there it is. answers on the question, what exactly am i? confused the filipino or hawaiian. nonetheless, first thing i want to say. city of las cruces, new mexico and my friend and el paso, texas, want to tell your cities are safe and open for business. mayor salinas is talking about, we hear media reports saying otherwise. but that's not true. our friend, neighbor or in juarez, mexico has been able to reduce kind by 50% in 2012.